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Searching for success: job hunting for international students

By Lucy Thompson, on 15 August 2022

Ting Chen, a recent IFT graduate, presented her key recommendations to ensure a smooth job search process.

On Friday 12 August, we were pleased to welcome back an alumna of the Institute of Finance and Technology, Ting Chen, to share her experiences of job hunting as an international student.

After graduating from the MSc Banking and Digital Finance in 2021, Ting completed an internship with Progressive Equity Research, which provides investment research for a wide range of small & mid-cap UK companies. She was then offered the role of Graduate Analyst at Barclays, where she started work in early August 2022.

career fair with lots of students in UCL cloisters

  1. Start sooner rather than later

Ting encouraged students start thinking about their job search right away if possible, instead of waiting until they have completed their Master’s programme. An early start to applications is a good approach, because it gives students as much time as possible to find out the requirements for the process and background checks, and to seek support from the resources available to them. Ting also emphasised the importance of reflecting on priorities for a first position on the job market, which could include sector, salary, company ethos and values.

  1. Use all resources available to you

The best job search is a supported job search. Ting spoke at length about how she had utilised job search engines like LinkedIn and Milkround – a well-established student and graduate career platform. She also mentioned that UCL Careers had been a very helpful in-house resource, which offered bespoke advice tailored to her. The university career service offers a range of different appointment types to help its students and recent graduates with general queries, to explore options, write applications and prepare for upcoming interviews.

Ting also mentioned her experiences of application processes that required online assessments, ranging from Situational Judgement, Logical Reasoning and Numeracy. Some also included a Personality test to see how Ting might fit with the rest of the team and how she matched up against the company values. Ting prepared for these via her one-to-one UCL Careers service appointments, and also downloaded several different assessment practice softwares.

  1. Have your documents ready to go

Visas and background checks are added complications for international graduates. As part of her journey to work, Ting was required to upgrade her “Post-Study Work” (PSW) visa to a T2 visa. A PSW visa gives international graduates from UK universities permission to stay in the UK for at least 2 years after successfully completing their course. A T2 or “Skilled Worker” visa is granted to those who get an eligible job with an approved employer. This lasts for 5 years, after which people known as “indefinite leave to remain” – the UK equivalent of the US Green Card.

Ting’s top tip was to have everything neatly filed away to ensure easy access to internship contracts, pay slips, salary certificates, degree certificates and all other relevant documentation to keep things in order. Good and proactive organisation can help individuals navigate complexities in this process.

  1. Make the UK and English feel like home

Looking for a job in a different country can be a logistically challenging experience, but there are also cultural and language barriers at play. During the session, IFT’s Research and Teaching Facilitator, Mira Wang, thanked Ting for her presentation and praised the quality of her English, which had improved dramatically even since graduation. This prompted a lively conversation about the challenges Ting had faced and overcome. Ting confirmed that the job search and her motivation to stay in the UK had helped her to integrate and make friends with British people, challenging her to watch the evening news and sitcoms, and to speak up in professional and social situations to express her ideas.

Ting Chen ID card on Barclays banner Ting finished the session by encouraging students to start conversations about their job search early on to prepare and to build connections and a network that can help with the job search, but more broadly to feel at home here. That was the crucial link to finding her feet securely on the UK career ladder.

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